Wow what a difference a week makes. Very little carnage this week and the scores showed it. Par turned out to be around 2200 and we are back to what has been a very high scoring season. Not too many seasons recently where scores like that have been Par this early as far as I can remember. As for me, I had a great week and finished 93rd over all for the week which I reckon is one of the highest scores I have had for a while.

But what does all this mean for Round 8? Diddly Squat is what it means, absolutely nothing! We all start back at square one with 0 points on the board at 7pm on Friday night. However, it is what we do in the meantime until that point that might help us. Let’s have a look at a few of the issues of the week and see if I can help you get through some of them and make a few decisions.

The Tigerback Conundrum

All year we have had the problem of which to play out of Ellis and Morris from the Tigers. I know it is something I have agonised over whenever one of my backs is out. One week it cost me the win when Morris was outscored by Ellis by about 25pts and I lost my league match by 3… not that I am bitter or anything. But this has been an issue for us all year. Well this week many coaches had to go with one and they picked Ellis who was vested. But to make matters worse he only scored the 6 points. Thankfully that interchange infringement didn’t count as a FA otherwise he would have only been credited with 3pts!

However, what this has done is push his BE way up to 82 and this has made our decision for us. I think that most coaches this week will be looking to unload him before his price plummets again next week. So make sure that you have had a good read of Chook’s Rooks from Wednesday where he gives you the lowdown on who to select.

For those with Morris still, let’s just hope like hell he doesn’t get the vest this week and do the same thing because the downgrade options in the backlines are very slim indeed!

The Ablett Abberation

Well the little master came back this week, Gary Ablett, defied what most of us were expecting and he played against the GWS. Whilst he did rack up the ton, he wasn’t looking 100% right yet and I reckon of Bluey McKenna had his time over or knew they would get beaten I reckon he might have left GAJ out of the side for one more week.

Last week I gave you a little spiel that suggested that you should wait to get him back if you did manage to trade him out during his weeks off. As it turns out, that was certainly the right thing to do as he now has a BE of 176 and that is going to be very difficult to obtain up in Darwin against the Doggies this week. My side, Port Adelaide, have played a lot of games up there and the one thing that I have noticed from watching them in those games is that the conditions are quite slippery which makes clean ball handling very difficult. I just can’t see him getting near that score and he should have a nice price drop making him ripe for the picking next week at what the Assistant Coach predicts will be a price of $563,800 (a drop of $16,500).

During the week I had a lengthy chat with the coach of “Cousins Coke n Ice” @Douthteez who believes that GAJ may get rested again over the next couple of weeks to fully recover and would be even cheaper by the time he is finished with his bye in round 13. I am not sure, but I do agree that he isn’t at peak form just yet. I will certainly be reassessing after watching him play the Dogs on Sat night.

One thing we did learn on Saturday was that The Horse‘s score wasn’t affected much by Ablett and RiskyTelly coming back into the side. Hopefully this trend continues and he keeps racking up points and cash.

The Rucking Roundabout

Another week, another Ruckman goes down. This week it was the turn of Hamish McIntosh. I feel for the big guy as he spent the last year on the sidelines after a great season the year before. I also feel for those coaches that have now gone Mumford > Sandi > McIntosh.

During the week we saw a Tweet from the NMFC and Brad Scott’s press conference which read….

“We think McIntosh will miss 1-2 but he still thinks he’s a chance for this weekend”

The way I read that is… we have no idea how long he will be out. But if you are an owner of McIntosh, I really think that you need to hold tight this weekend and perhaps take a donut in the hope that he will be back the following week. I know it is easier to say than do, but I think that 1 is more likely than none or 2. If you have only used 2 or maybe 3 trades all up you can probably afford one, but who do you go to? I would say Cox, Jacobs, Ryder or Goldstein. But personally, I would hold at the moment if I had him.

And the DT Gods have given you a great reason to hold by naming The Big O this week for those that needed cover!

How’s the Carnage!

Just when you thought everything was safe, the GWS match committee pull a fast one and relegate all of our Cash Cows to a visit from the General! Bugg, Shiel and Devon Smith all copped a visit from the General this week whilst Kennedy is out with a Shoulder. I guess the thing to remember here is to stick to your plans if you can. These guys (particularly Shiel and Smith) have a bit of cash still to make, so don’t just ditch them unless you were planning to anyway or if you really need to. On top of that Sheeds didn’t give us back Old McDonald either.

And still…. No Tom Couch. I just can’t understand how this bloke can’t get a game but Jurrah and Watts can be getting a game in front of him.

Things to Remember

Seriously consider trading Ellis – I think he will leak a lot of cash over the next two weeks so take the $95k profit and run.

Read Calvin’s Captains – The Mad Irish Pirate is rarely wrong. Get on him… and don’t listen to Chook’s Captains as they haven’t proven as good. (Broughton… need I say more)

Consider the Bye’s in your upgrades – No matter what your bye strategy is, it is worth taking the byes into account when putting your trades together. But don’t be bound by them either.

Don’t kill a half-fat cow unless it is a necessity – I have heard a lot of talk about people culling Greene, Magner or Shiel this week. Unless you need to so you can get a premium at the bottom of his price cycle. Hold these guys for another week at least.

Don’t Drink N Trade – We all know that you shouldn’t drive, but don’t trade either. You might find yourself waking up in the morning lying in bed next to someone you don’t know and don’t really want to know and then Lockout has started and you are stuck there until Monday morning comes and you can sneakily trade them out while they are in the shower getting ready for work.

As always, we know there will be something happen later today that will have some sort of impact on your team. Make sure you are ready and are all over it, so stay close to Twitter. If you don’t have Twitter, get it. It is the best source of news and last minute info that I have found.

Even though we have Reversible Trades, don’t just set an forget them. Make sure you check out Dream Team Stock Market with Aki later today. Don’t let his photo scare you off, he doesn’t bite and he has some great info on when to sell and who to buy. So make sure you read that before you finalise your trades for the week and head off to the pub (if doing so, refer point 5 above).

Have a great weekend, discuss your teams in the comments if you need some last minute help from the DTTalk community and most of us are on Twitter for all of Friday Avo issues. You can find me @pkd73

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Author: Dunny
Somehow we let a Port Adelaide supporter onto our team? Yeah, we know! But Dunny is the man! We love his column "The Friday Scramble" to get us set up for the weekend and he is one of our draft gurus! Follow: @pkd73.

Hi Guys, I have a real dilemma that I would really appreciate some help with. Firstly will Clay Smith wear the vest? He is my M6 at the moment. Next is, is I have 3 not playing up forward, Kennedy, Hall and D. Smith. Im sitting 1461, have 50k in the bank and 18 trades left. HELP HELP

I would hang on to Bugg a little longer going well and price will rise second option seems better in the long run. Also thinking trading out Ellis or Phil Davis for Spurr, if Davis is traded have 200, 000 left to get in premium player any thoughts?

HI guys i really need help!, i have $300,000 and i have Devon smith, Adam kennedy, and curtley hamton on my bench who are all not playing this week. I was think on trading devon smith to Chappy but his BE is only 7. WHAT SHOULD I DO TO AVOID A DONUT ?? i have 17 trades left..please help!

I like those trades mate!!! I am also worried bout Robbo playing this week.

Dickson was ultra impressive last week. He looked like a guy who had kicked 100 goals before. Really awkward size as well for opposition clubs to match up to. Can see him playing quite a bit of football this year!

I am biased mate but I love what I am seeing from dusty. He hasn’t put a whole game together yet but it is getting closer every week. He has the capability of smashing big scores.

Just some quick points:
The Tigers play Freo and GWS round 11 and round 12.
The Tigers run in the second half of the year becomes easier
If Dusty is struggling in the mids can go forward and kick goals

There are plenty of good options. Lewis is as solid a forward as there is.

I am tossing up between bringing in Stanton/Boyd this week. Most people say Boyd because of the bye rounds, but I am not heavily factoring the bye rounds in as I have some easy matchups then (I’m interested in league only).

This is probably the best time to pick up stanton (low BE), Boyd is hitting some good form too though. What are your thoughts as to the best pick, not factoring the bye rounds in. One thing I do factor in partially is that in the dreamteam grand final, stanton plays collingwood…?

dont know why everyone is looking to spurr for a downgrade.
lyon has ruined freo’s dt relavence so far this year, vesting all of the tasty young guns, screwing around with broughton and fyfe. I’m not going to get sucked in with spurr.

darley is a gun, as long as he can hold a place in the team every other week, i think I’d prefer him over spurr.

I wouldn’t be bringing in any rookie player at this point of the year that wasn’t on the bubble. The JS of all rookies must be a concern for everyone. Bringing in a guy who hasn’t played yet in Darley could end becoming a donut making machine. Zorko has also played a qtr of football.

Disagree if it’s to avoid a 0 and/or helps you upgrade a player that may have bottomed out then it may pay off by having a crack. Time will tell if it pays off. Ridley did you not trade Horsley in after 1 game and are you not confident of Zorko playing some games? Considering you have left him in your side all year?

I ended up going Horsley after the second game because of this very reason. You are correct about Zorko. I have had him in the side all year unfortunately. What I am worried about with Zorko is how little football he has played. I am almost expecting him to get the vest again this week. When he came on last week he started well but faded out a fair bit. It was a major mistake picking him in the first place and I really wish I hadn’t because I am not sure whether the hype was correct. Almost traded him out on 3 separate occasions including this week for Dickson. Kept him because I didn’t want to compound my initial mistake.

Going to cop a donut in the fwd line with Smedts, Hall and Kennedy (or D.Smith in mids). I can’t afford to upgrade Kennedy to the fwd premo/s I want so to avoid said donut I am thinking of either:

a) Trading in Zorko this week for A Kennedy or Hall.
2) Upgrading Ellis to M.Johnson (Freo, Back/Fwd) and playing him fwd by swapping him with Smedts. A bit of flexibility but they share the rndf 12 bye unfortunately.

Leaning towards a) (or is that 1.?) as whilst I like Johnson I am not convinced he is a keeper.

Hey I have Ellis and Smedts which means I can trade out Ellis for a back or forward and leave smedts in either the forwards or backs. I also have 210K in the bank what do people think are the best of these trades.

Ellis to Dickson and bank more cash to get Swan or Boyd in the next few weeks

Ellis-Zaha
Ellis to Broughton
Ellis to Pavlich
Ellis to Roughead (to go in forwards then move to rucks to cover Cox and Giles in the bye)

I see no point downgrading Ellis as there is nobody I deem good enough to bring in.

I have K Hunt playing this week because Bugg is out and I see him as a long term bench spot for weeks like this where he can be a solid replacement in the last defender spot. I think I will hang on until very late in the year.

1. Keep as I have coverage, Clarke
2. Downgrade to delaney, he would be on the bench. Leaves me $300k for upgrade next week which might be shiel to Murphy.
3. Straight upgrade to waters which would complete my backline but no Goddard and no cash.

Phil you have nothing to worry about compared to me, have 3 green lights up F/W, Robbo & Adams extended bench, with Kennedy, Adams, Hampton & Lyons missing. Depends on your ladder position, i’m 4/1, this week was going to be close, so was upgrading Ellis/Bugg or both, to put me a bit further ahead, If Robbo & Adams are out i’m stuffed, so am thinking i might take a loss & proceed with backline upgrades, or one upgrade back & forward.

I’m just looking forward and see it will be difficult in the next couple of weeks considering I am looking at getting in Marc Murphy either next week or the following along with the potential downgrades of Miles, Clifton, Buntine, Darley and Sexton in the fortnight (and maybe get in Didak if he is firing).

That said i have done the exact same trade. Why you should wait in case of injury or shower performance. Why havent I… I figure if he is all he is cracked up to be he should get regular games, and the gamble should mean that if all goes well I can get Ablett, Boyd and Murphy into my team over the next two rounds finishing off my midfield. Swan Stanton Ablett Boyd Pendles Murphy

Dunny, I’m a bit surprised with all the talk about Ellis’s price “plummeting” over the next 2 weeks. Ran the numbers the other day and if he were to score a couple of 60’s for the next 2 weeks, he would only drop about 11K.

There’s no rush to sell for me. He seems like he’s got the backing of the coach hearing the Tigers talk about him which means he’s a good bench option. I’m also not sold on Spurr so it makes it even less attractive.